CEO’S MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

As the CEO and co-founder of the Nika Water Company, Jeff Church does not make a dime from his endeavors. In fact, Church has given Nika Water many of his own dimes, which the company has promptly given away. Along with its profits.

What is wrong with this business plan? Absolutely nothing.

“I have definitely screwed up a lot of things in my life,” Church said of a business career that has had its share of profits and losses. “But this is one thing that I have been lucky enough to do.”

Founded in 2009 by Church and business partner Michael Stone, Nika is a premium bottled water with a bleeding heart and a clear conscience. The bottles are made from 100 percent recycled plastic. For every 98 bottles sold, a tree is planted in the Brazilian rain forest. For every bottle that is made, another bottle is recycled.

One hundred percent of Nika’s profits go to providing clean water, education and poverty-fighting support to underdeveloped countries. And hundreds of thousands of Church’s and Stone’s own dollars have followed suit. Running a company he calls “marginally profitable” is probably not the way Church learned to do it at the Harvard Business School, but it is the way he wants to do it now.

“We’re still augmenting heavily,” Church, 52, said of the personal funds he and Stone continue to kick in. “But we believe wholeheartedly in these causes. When I see how much impact just $20 can have, I’m an easy mark.”

By the time Nika came along, Church’s corporate cup was already running over. The Cleveland native had been an auditor and management consultant for an accounting firm, a VP and general manager for a manufacturing company, CEO and majority owner of a concrete-accessories company, and founder of a private equity firm.

The Rancho Santa Fe resident was also the husband of an altruistic wife (Linda), the father of four impressionable children, and the co-owner of some new and challenging goals.

“My wife and I were struggling with what the next step would be, and we were trying to move our lives from having modest business success to having a life of significance and helping make a difference in someone else’s life,” Church said from the new Miramar office shared by Nika and Church’s Suja Juice company. “And we wanted to teach our kids to be stewards of the environment and good global citizens.”

In 2009, Church and his family went on a humanitarian trip to help build schools in Ethiopia and Kenya. All of the Churches came home with a renewed appreciation for what they had and a newfound desire to do something for the people who had so little. His kids urged him to take action, so Church did what he knew how to do. He started a business.

“I haven’t really seen a family work as a unit the way the Church family works as a unit,” said Charlene Seidle, senior vice president of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, which is partnering with Nika Water to build clean-water systems and schoolhouses in the Gondar region of Ethiopia. “The way they use philanthropy as a bonding experience is something I think many families aspire to but rarely achieve.”

While he knew the world probably didn’t need another high-end bottled water, Church looked at the business’ low overhead and potential for a high profit margin and thought it was worth trying. Since Nika launched four years ago, the company and its humanitarian partners — including Free the Children and Project Concern International — have helped provide water systems, schools and scholarships to villages in Kenya, Nicaragua, Uganda, Tanzania and Sri Lanka.

So far, Nika has pledged more than $400,000 to these projects. As for the increased emotional wealth of the Church family, no one can put a price tag on that.

“It’s been life-changing. You come back from something like that as a totally different person,” said Church’s niece Isabella Tumini, who returned from that first trip to Ethiopia and Kenya determined to focus her life and education on helping others. The Point Loma Nazarene University graduate is now one of Nika’s nine paid employees.

Businessman that he is, Jeff Church has his eye on multiple bottom lines. He would like to get Nika Water distributed beyond the West Coast and New York. While the water is carried in Whole Foods, Jimbo’s and other natural-food stores, as well as restaurants, bars and yoga studios, he would like to get more grocery stores into his loop. He would love to focus on Nika full time. But when it comes to the emotional perks, Church has no complaints. In the end, Nika Water is in the giving business. And business is good.

“This has been the best thing that ever happened to me and my family,” Church said. “It is the best endeavor of my life.”